These grizzly bears are really a couple of hams at heart.
Betty and Veronica, whose antics have amused millions at the Bronx Zoo since 1995, are moving to the Central Park Zoo – where they’ll live in an exhibit that for 25 years housed the beloved “bi-polar” bear Gus, who died last year.
Unlike Gus, who spent countless hours swimming laps in his small pool and was eventually diagnosed with depression, Betty and Veronica have a rep for hijinks that rivals their comic book namesakes.
“Our grizzly bears respond to various cues from their keepers — standing for a belly exam and offering their claws for a nail trim. They’ve also learned how to raise their paw in a wave!” The Bronx Zoo boasts on its Web site.
But the grizzlies were not always so lovable.
Betty and Veronica were rescued separately in Montana and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming after they became too bold in their interactions with humans and were deemed dangerous, the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a statement.
The pair are among nine bears rescued by the society that now live at The Bronx Zoo – the result of more people living or vacationing in bear territory.
“The bears’s stories can help teach us why we must learn to coexist with wildlife,” said Jim Breheny, the Bronx Zoo’s director.
“With continued human expansion into wild places, it is inevitable that there will be interactions between bears and people. We remain focused on developing ways to reduce human/bear conflict to the benefit of both bears and people.”
The new bears won’t remain at the Central Park Zoo forever – three orphaned grizzlies that were rescued in Montana last year are being groomed at the Bronx Zoo to take their place.
But in the meantime, Betty and Veronica will have a tough act to follow in Gus, who was euthanized in August 2013 after vets discovered the 27-year-old polar bear had an inoperable tumor.
Gus’ death prompted a widespread effort led by The Post – using the hashtag #HonorGus on Twitter – to persuade the zoo to get another polar bear.
But zoo officials said there just were not any available – as other zoos who have polar bears use them as the centerpiece of their exhibits on climate change and were not willing to give them up.
The zoo’s 6,000-square-foot bear habitat is being updated to accommodate the new Grizzlies – who prefer a shallower swimming hole – and is expected to open in November.
The exhibit’s upper level viewing area will be called “Treena’s overlook,” a play on the childhood nickname of Sandra de Roulet, a major zoo donor.
Visitors on Tuesday were thrilled that bears, believed to be the zoo’s first grizzlies, would be returning to Central Park in November — though opinions differed on whether the zoo should have held out for another polar bear.
“Gus was a true New Yorker. He gave us 27 years, let’s give another polar bear 27 years,” said Bella McLaughlin, 55, a school health aide.
Linda Blumenfeld, 57, a dog trainer from Brooklyn, said the Big Apple was too hot for a bear more accustomed to lounging on an iceberg.
“I would not want another polar bear to go through our insanely hot summers as Gus did, so I will take the grizzlies,” she said.